Regina Jaquess, the 2013 Bracket Challenge champion and No. 3 seed on the 34 mph side of the bracket, was eliminated by Ben Favret, with a first round score 1 buoy at 41 off to Ben’s 2-1/2 buoys at 41. Regina’s score was no doubt hampered by tough conditions at her only two tournaments of the month: the Malibu Cup and the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto. The Malibu Cup featured challenging weather conditions that ultimately forced the cancellation of the final round, while the Pan Ams were conducted in fairly rough conditions on a temporary tournament site located on Lake Ontario.

In the second upset of the first round, the No. 7 seed Greg Badal topped No. 2 seed and 2014 final four skier Jay Leach, 3 buoys at 41 off to 1-1/2 at 41.

Chris Parrish, Thomas Degasperi, Daniel Odvarko and Carlo Allais all advanced on the 36 mph side, while Jeremy Newby-Ricci and Dave Miller join Greg and Ben in the second round on the 34 mph side. The second round will be comprised of all scores in August, including the 73rd GOODE Water Ski National Championships and Malibu Open.

In the online fan contest, only six of the 342 brackets submitted remain perfect. Interestingly, all six perfect brackets pick Chris Parrish to win, so if he happens to fall short there will likely be a major shakeup in the standings.

In addition to many of the world’s best 34 mph skiers, the 2015 Bracket Challenge features a who’s who of 36 mph skiers as well. Now names like Parrish, Degasperi and Finlayson have joined the likes of Jaquess, Miller and Newby-Ricci.

Once again fans will be able to test their skiing knowledge and enter their own March-Madness like brackets. The fan with the best bracket will win a FREE GOODE FlexTail, while other top finishers will receive GOODE prize packages. But you can’t win if you don’t enter. Fill out and submit your bracket here before the July 23rd entry deadline.

The overall bracket will have two halves – one for 36 and the other for 34 mph skiers – with a winner from each bracket facing off against each other for the Bracket Challenge title. In the final round, speed is not taken into consideration to determine the bracket winner. The rope length and number of buoys is the sole determinant of the winner. For example, if Regina Jaquess scored 3 buoys at 41 off (at 34 mph), she would beat Trent Finlayson’s score of 2 buoys at 41 off (36 mph).

To fill out and submit a bracket, or for more information, including rules, click here.

After a disappointing second-place finish at the 2014 Masters, Regina Jaquess returned to Callaway Gardens this year with one goal in mind: reclaiming the Women’s slalom title. Welp … mission accomplished.

Regina topped Manon Costard in a run-off during Sunday’s final round to earn the win and claim her fifth career Women’s slalom title. The two skiers tied with 2-1/2 buoys at 39-1/2 off in the finals, but Regina’s run off score of 4-1/2 at 38 was enough to top Manon’s 1-1/2 at 38 on a windy and challenging Robin Lake. Whitney McClintock finished third while Team GOODE’s Clementine Lucine advanced to the finals and finished fourth.

In Men’s slalom, Nate Smith edged Freddie Winter for the title, while two Team GOODE skiers – recent addition Daniel Odvarko and defending champion Thomas Degasperi – took third and fourth, respectively. Daniel’s impressive showing came in his very first Masters and his first big tournament after joining GOODE. Thomas looked to be in good form to defend his title, but injured his back during the semifinals and was unable to attempt a pass in the finals.

Of the eight spots available in the slalom finals, Team GOODE skiers earned four while winning one of two titles.

In the Junior ranks, GOODE Junior Team skier Brooke Baldwin took home both the Junior Women’s slalom and overall titles.

Freddie Winter continues to serve notice to the slalom world with a big victory in Europe over the weekend.

The 2013 Worlds bronze medalist added to his growing resume by winning the 2014 European Championships in Melice, Czech Republic.

Freddie scored 1-1/4 buoys at 41 off to edge fellow GOODE Team skier and multiple time World and European champion Thomas Degasperi, who scored 1 at 41. With Thomas the top seed and still to come in the final round, Freddie made an extraordinary effort (check out the video here) to get outside two ball and secure the quarter buoy that would end up being the deciding margin.

Team GOODE continues it’s hot streak as it took half of the slalom podiums at this week’s Mastercraft Pro Water Ski Shootout in Calgary, Canada.

GOODE’s Nick Parsons took third in Men’s slalom, finishing behind champion Nate Smith and Will Asher. Nick earned a spot in the final-three matchup by posting a great score of 3 buoys at 41-feet off, which was tied for that round’s highest score. The podium finish is his second in less than a year, after also finishing third at the Diablo Shores Pro Am last fall.

Fellow Team GOODE skier Freddie Winter barely missed out on a top-three finish, taking fourth with 2.5 buoys at 41-feet off, while GOODE newcomer Daniel Odvarko and Thomas Degasperi also advanced to the eight-skier finals.

On the Women’s side, April Coble-Eller and Karen Truelove took second and third, respectively, while Whitney McClintock finished first. Heading into the final-three matchup, April was tied with Whitney for top score with 2 buoys at 39-1/2 feet off.

The great results for Team GOODE come days after it claimed three titles and numerous podiums at the Malibu Open, and comes in a season in which Thomas claimed both the Moomba and Masters titles, and Regina Jaquess (who did not compete at the Mastercraft Shootout) won the Masters and Malibu Open titles.

Led by Regina Jaquess’ Malibu Open three-peat, Team GOODE took three titles and numerous podiums this past weekend at Veterans Park in Milwaukee, Wis.

Regina defeated Whitney McClintock in the head-to-head finals to claim the Open Women’s slalom title for the third-consecutive year, while her fellow teammates April Coble-Eller (3rd) and Karen Truelove (4th) also skied well in advancing to the Final Four.

In Open Men’s slalom, Team GOODE’s Thomas Degasperi and Chris Parrish both advanced to the Final Four on the way to taking third and fourth, respectively. Nate Smith earned the title with K.C. Wilson having his best showing as a pro with a second-place finish.

Junior GOODE skiers continue to excel in 2014, as both Dane Mechler (under 21 Men’s slalom) and Bailey Austin (under 17 girls) each took home titles. The Under 21 Men’s event was a sweep for GOODE skiers as Daniel Di Pol and Sam Greenwood joined Dane on the podium, finishing second and third, respectively. Other GOODE skiers with top-3 finishes included Erika Lang (3rd, under 21 Women’s), Nick Lang (under 17 Boy’s) and Zach Montavon (under 17 Boy’s).

It’s pretty easy to see that the folks at 5 Hour Energy like Thomas Degasperi … a lot.

After featuring the two-time world champion in a nationally broadcast television commercial last winter, the international brand has now produced a series of online videos starring Thomas.

The videos focus not only on Thomas, how he got involved in skiing and his approach to competitions and training, but also on the excitement of the sport itself, including a “slalom 101″ video aimed at introducing water skiing to a broader audience.

Team GOODE’s Thomas Degasperi continued his amazing 2014 by winning his second consecutive major tournament after claiming the Men’s slalom title today at the 55th Masters.

Thomas’ victory put the capstone on a great weekend for Team GOODE, as its athletes landed nine of the 15 slalom podium slots available throughout the weekend.

Thomas scored 3 buoys at 41 feet off to easily outdistance the field and add to the Moomba Masters title he won in March. Jon Travers took second with 0.5 buoys at 41, and Aaron Larkin third with 3.5 buoys at 39.

In Women’s slalom Regina Jaquess’ two-plus-year undefeated streak came to an end as Whitney McClintock earned the title with 3.5 buoys at 39. Still, Regina managed to take second with 2.5 buoys at 39 off while her fellow Team GOODE skier April Coble-Eller continued her amazing run of late by taking third with 1 buoy at 39 off

In a special Master Men’s event featuring the top-four finishers from last years Nautique Big Dawg World Tour Championships, Team GOODE swept the top three podium spots as Jay Leach edged Jeremy Newby-Ricci in the final-round match up to earn the title and Dave Miller finishing third.

And in an historic round of slalom earlier in the weekend, Team GOODE skiers finished 1-2-3 in Junior Masters Men’s slalom as the course record was equaled five times before being ultimately exceeded.

Italy’s Brando Caruso earned the victory in a second runoff with fellow GOODE skier Eamon Van Der Merwe of South Africa. Both skiers scored 2 buoys at 39-1/2 off, which equaled a course record first set in 2003, in the final round and the first runoff, while Brando scored 2-1/2 buoys at 39-1/2 off in the second runoff round to edge Eamon by a half buoy and set a new course record in the process.

This is the second Junior Masters slalom title for Brando, while Eamon merely equaled his South African Open Men’s national record, and PB, three straight rounds on Robin Lake.

Completing the Junior Men’s podium sweep for Team GOODE and the Nano OneXT was Dorien Llewellyn, who finished third with 0.5 buoys at 39-1/2 off. The impressive score helped Dorien defend his Junior Masters overall title for a year ago.

Of the six podium spots for 36 mph skiers at the Masters, Team GOODE earned four.

In the Junior Masters Women’s events, Team GOODE Brooke Baldwin, who is only 13, became the youngest ever Junior Women’s overall champion. Brooke recorded scores of 2 buoys at 35 feet off in slalom, 6,670 points in tricks and a personal-best 111 feet in jumping to clinch the overall title with 2,845.5 points.

The North American ski season is starting to heat up and so are the scores of a number of Team GOODE skiers.

Dane Mechler and Giannina Bonneman both set PBs on their Nano OneXT’s at last weekend’s Florida Inboards Open at the Pickos Waterski and Wakeboard School.

Giannina Bonneman set a new PB with 2-1/4@38.

Dane scored 2 buoys at 41 off to improve his PB by three-and-a-half buoys and post his first-ever score at that line length. The native Ohioan is a freshman member of the University of Louisiana Lafayette’s Rajun Cajun water ski team who turns 19 tomorrow.

Giannina also set a PB, with a score of 2-1/4 buoys at 38 feet off. The 20-year old German is a teammate of Dane’s at ULL.

And while they weren’t PBs, Team GOODE’s Thomas Degasperi and Freddie Winter got into the act with consistent skiing well into 41 off. T-Gas posted two scores of 3 buoys at 41 feet off at the Ski Fluid Classic last weekend in Polk City, Fla., while Freddie ran 3 buoys at 41 feet off in all three rounds of the Florida Inboard Open.

The great skiing is coming at the right time, as Freddie and Giannina both look to win this weekend’s Master Last Chance Qualifier at Sunset Lakes in Groveland, Fla., and join T-Gas at the 55th Masters on Memorial Day weekend.

Another Team GOODE member who looks to be peaking at the right time is Junior skier Eamon Van Der Merwe of South Africa, who ran 2 buoys at 39-1/2 feet off at the Ski Fluid Class as he preps for the Junior Masters.